NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMAN National Preventive Mechanism ANNUAL REPORT 2020 24 Inmate’s right to healthcare during a pandemic The prison healthcare services play an essential role in safeguarding the health of inmates, also dur­ ing a pandemic. The Ombudsman has repeatedly noted that the capacity of the prison healthcare services is inadequate.3 The investigation showed that the challenges in regard to the general capacity of the healthcare services were exacer­ bated during the pandemic. Inmates experienced greater difficulty in contacting healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic than under normal circumstances, as the healthcare services had to prioritise emergency care. It also appears that adverse effects from solitary confinement and psychological strain as a result of quarantine and solitary confinement have not been given adequate attention. The Ombudsman notes that inmates in quarantine and solitary confinement are deprived of their liberty and cannot safeguard their own interests. Therefore it is unfortunate that inmates who have been placed in quarantine and solitary confinement have not received necessary supervision from prison healthcare services. Of the fifty respondents who stated that they had been placed in quarantine or solitary confinement, only one stated that they had received daily visits by the healthcare services. This is in breach of the Mandela Rules and the WHO’s provisional guidelines on COVID-19 in prisons, which determine that inmates placed in solitary confinement must be supervised daily, respectively once or twice per day.4 — «[...] had a conversation lasting three minutes with the healthcare services on the day of arrival, but no further contact.» Inmate — Doctor’s office in a prison visited by the NPM. 3 See also The Parliamentary Ombudsman's Special Report to the Storting on Solitary Confinement and Lack of Human Contact in Norwegian Prisons, Document 4:3 (2018/19), chap.10; Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report from visit to Oslo Prison, 1922 November 2018; Arendal Prison 68 February 2018; Åna Prison, 1315 November 2017; Ullersmo Prison, 2931 August 2017; Bergen Prison 46 November 2014. 4 Mandela Rules, rule 46 no. 1; (WHO) Europe, “Preparedness, prevention and control of COVID-19 in prisons and other places of detention: interim guidance», 15 March 2020, p. 21.